Which Canadian places made the list of the ‘selfiest’ cities in the world?
Add to ...

What is the selfie capital of the world? If you’ve been wondering where the narcissistic tendency to take photos of yourself and share them online is strongest, then thank Time magazine for crunching the data and coming up with the answer.

Take your best guess what the “selfiest“ city in the world is: As it turns out, it’s Makati City, in the Philippines. The city produces more selfies per capita than any other urban centre, according to Time.

Cast member Liam Hemsworth takes a 'selfie' with a fan at the premiere of "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" in Los Angeles, California November 18, 2013.
REUTERS

Multimedia

President Barack Obama talks with Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt during the memorial service for former South African president Nelson Mandela at the FNB Stadium in Soweto, near Johannesburg, South Africa, Tuesday Dec. 10, 2013.
AP

Multimedia

Only two Canadian cities made it on the magazine’s list of the top 100.

The magazine looked at more than 400,000 selfies that were taken on Instagram in late January and early February, and another batch from early March. Those photos were marked “selfie” and included a geographic location.

As Time’s interactive graphics editor Chris Wilson acknowledges in a blog post, “That only accounts for a fraction of all selfies uploaded during that time since the majority of photos do not include a location.” And nor does everyone who takes a selfie tag it as such.

Based on Time’s methodology, Makati City, the financial centre of the Philippines, has 258 selfie takers per 100,000 people. Manhattan and Miami rounded out the top three.

And which Canadian cities made the list? You’re probably thinking Toronto must be one of them, because Toronto loves to obsess over itself (I say it with love … sort of).

But no! It was not Hogtown. It was Victoria and Edmonton, which ranked 81 and 98 on the list, respectively, with 34 and 30 selfies per 100,000 people.

Ever since Oxford Dictionaries named “selfie” as the word of the year for 2013 (literally defined as “a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website”) the photo phenomenon has become a hot topic of study.

Last month, the Atlantic reported on a project by Lev Manovich, a professor in the City University of New York computer-science program, who analyzed selfies from several cities and concluded that each one has its own selfie style.

The Time infographic adds an extra dimension to understanding selfies in each city by showing where they are most taken. Lower Manhattan is a hot spot, for instance.

While Time ranked a total of 459 cities, only the top 100 are listed on its site.